The Iwa Six
by Lone Wolf King
Summary: You know the Konoha Eleven right? Well, this story follows the adventures of the Iwa six. I might change the rating to M in later chapters, since there will be scenes of violence. Reviews are welcome, no flames please.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This story is set in an alternate timeline, and will not follow Canon events completely. This fic is set a year after the events of the Chuunin exams, and is set around the second chuunin exams. There won't be much action in this chapter, these first two chapters will be more of an introduction to the OCs, but after that I'll throw in some action.

**Kino's POV-**

I lay in the back of the room, my eyes closed as I attempted to fall asleep. Yea yea, Tokama-sensei wanted us to pay attention, it was almost time for the Chuunin exams in Konoha, and we had to train harder. Whatever. When the time came I'd destroy the Konoha-nin, passing the Chuunin exams would be easy, I didn't know what the big deal was about.

It wasn't until I heard a small hissing sound in front of me, and I heard Yacou scream loudly that I opened my eyes. Oh crap... Tokama-sensei's summon was staring me in the face, as I stared into the reptilian eyes of the Komodo dragon. "A-Akamundai… Nice of you to visit." The lizard hissed loudly, flickering it's tongue out as it stared at me, it's front legs on the desk, supporting itself in a standing position as it's hindlegs scrabbled on the floor, making a loud clicking sound. It would have been funny if it weren't for the foul lizard breath blasting me in the face.

The lizard's tongue flitted out once more, and it blinked once, it's tail swishing violently. I was trying to decide if it's silence was good or bad, and I looked to Yacou, trying to figure out if it was good or bad. Her face only registered fear, so I instead turned to Dakede, who was too busy trying not to laugh to help me. Great, those two were such a great help.

It was at that time that the lizard opened it's mouth wide, it's breath stingingly hot on my face. "Kino, issss there any reasssson you feel the need to ignore your ssssensssei?" I coughed lightly, shaking my head at the reptile, as I sat up. "N-no Akamundai, I'm listening." The lizard merely laughed, a high pitched hissing laugh that grated on my ear drums. "Very well then, tell me who your opponentsssss are for the pre-chuunin exam contessst that your ssssensssei hasss arranged?"

I winced inwardly, knowing I was doomed. I hadn't been paying attention, leave it to Tokama-Sensei to arrange a contest a week before the Chuunin exams. "Ummm… Tokama-Sensei?" The lizard hissed angrily, snapping it's jaws at me and sneaking off, as Tokama chuckled from his side of the room. The jounin approached my desk slowly, and I could feel my mouth growing dry.

When the man reached my desk, I tried to shrink under it, but I couldn't. I could hear Dakede and Yacou snickering, at least they were until Tokama-sensei brought his hand down on the desk, glaring at them. "Did I say something funny to you too? Kino is your teammate, his failures are your failures, his mistakes are yours. You'd do well to remember that."

The two glared at me, and never before had I wanted to disappear as much as I did then. Tokama-sensei began walking back to his spot, and I listened carefully as he spoke up once more. "NOW! There are only two gennin teams in Iwa this year, ours, and Shinuhi-san's. Tomorrow, the two gennin teams will clash to see who has come the farthest since the day you all graduated from the academy. Now, due to the fact that Girin is on Shinuhi-san's team, as well as Seika, neither I nor Shinuhi-san will be able to judge the contest fairly, so for this reason Oonoki-san will be the judge. "

I paled when the man mentioned my grandfather judging the contest… This would be bad, especially if I didn't impress him. I couldn't help but worry as Tokama-sensei continued. "Now, while we have fewer Gennin than the other villages, our Gennin started training at a younger age, so I expect all of you to win at the Chuunin exams, however, in this contest the goal isn't to win, merely to show off your strength. Remember, we don't want any casualties, luckily none of you are quite proficient enough with your techniques to be fatal, but that's no excuse to fly off the handle. You're all using quite complicated techniques that are of Chuunin or Jounin level, but you can't quite control them, so be careful."

I reached my hand up to brush my hair out of my face, the red strands falling back into place as soon as I did. Seika was a weird kid, he was just too happy. Not many of us liked him, but we did tolerate him, because his uncle was the head of his clan and the second gennin squad's sensei.

Seika intimidated us to some degree, but I would crush him if I had to. Yacou and I could take him out if we worked together. Speaking of the girl, I turned to her, nodding my head in an encouraging way, before turning to Tokama-sensei. "Don't worry Tokama-sensei, we can handle these guys, no problem."

Rather than smiling like I'd expected, Tokama-sensei merely shrugged, turning to the drawing board behind him. "Maybe, maybe not. Kekkei Genkai users have always been seen as skilled, and they are no exception. We'll just have to do our best. Yacou will attach her seals to Seika at the start of the fight, and then she'll use her puppets to bombard Girin and Kokoro. Kino will attack them from the right, and Dakede will attack from the left. Remember Dakede, you're not allowed to open any gates or use the splitting technique."

Dakede groaned at this statement, before shaking his head. I couldn't believe he was so disrespectful, I should hurt him… Oh well, he was on my team. Tokama-sensei dismissed us then, and I bowed to the blond haired man, staring into his dark eyes for a moment. I could tell he was uneasy, but I didn't know why.

As Yacou and Dakede walked by, I could see the two arguing. They both irritated me immensely, but they were still my best friends. No one could believe the two were friends, they had nothing in common. Yacou was a fun loving girl who was almost always smiling, Dakede was too serious. Dakede had sandy blond hair and green eyes, Yacou had raven hair and brown eyes.

I watched them carefully as they left, trying to decide if they were ready for the Chuunin exams. They were both skilled, but whether or not they were skilled enough remained to be seen… Still, even if they weren't ready, there wasn't anything I could do about it. I said good bye to Tokama-sensei and Akamundai, before turning to make my way out of the classroom, exiting into the halls. I'd better go get ready then.

As I walked, I took a final look at Dakede's red and black steam armor, noting the similarities to the one worn by Han. I'd always wanted to see what Dakede could do with that thing, now seemed to be our chance. Apparently only one Konoha-nin had made it to Chuunin last year, so that would give us a chance to take on some experienced opponents. Maybe this pre-chuunin exam test wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Not much action in this chapter either, sorry bout that folks, but you can't just jump right into the action. A good story has a bit of buildup first, whet your appetites and so forth.

Girin's POV-

We squinted against the sunlight, trying to look at the man in front of us as he lectured us, but we couldn't quite manage. Old Shinuhi was trying to prove a point, but I wasn't getting it, and to be honest I was fed up. I stood up sharply, angling my head at the glass pillar the man was standing on, wadding up spit and chakra in my mouth.

I could hear Kokoro gasp in shock, realizing what I was doing, as Seika busied himself watching a butterfly float by. Idiot. "Explosion Release: Spit Grenade!" I spat at the pillar, the glob of spit landing on the dead center of the pillar, a loud explosion followed by a shattering sound echoing out as a result. Old man Shinuhi stumbled as the pillar began to crumble, before jumping forward. "Glass Release: Transparent Wall!"

A large window shaped wall of glass appeared in front of me and the other two, the glass pillar fragmenting into shards which imbedded themselves in the wall… Ok, so maybe my plan hadn't been perfect. Still, I managed to destroy the man's precious glass.

I smiled, perfectly pleased with the jutsu I myself had invented, until the old man gave me a slap upside the head, and I glared up at him. "Hey ya old geezer, quit hitting me!" Shinuhi merely shook his head, slapping me again, as he reprimanded me, his voice low and gruff. "You will call me Shinuhi-san, or Shinuhi-sensei, not old geezer. And next time you want to get yourself killed, do it where it won't kill your teammates in the process. I'm not wasting my time mentoring idiots, so use your brain before you use a jutsu. The Explosion Release has the potential to damage allies as well as enemies, so you need to be especially careful when fighting!"

I frowned lightly, as I rubbed the spot where he'd slapped me. I'd expected him to congratulate me, none of us had ever gotten past the glass before, so what I had just done was a turning point for us….. The old geezer was just upset that we'd destroyed his glass, that was all. Big bully… Shinuhi gestured for me to go sit down, and I walked to my seat, grumbling under my breath as I did.

Kokoro nudged me from the side, pointing at Seika and giggling. I turned to the grey haired child that never frowned for any reason, raising my eye as I saw how he chose to entertain himself on this particular occasion.

Seika was letting a caterpillar crawl on his hand, and moving his hands in a way that the caterpillar kept climbing along each hand without gaining any altitude…. The kid was so weird, he'd entertain himself with a blade of grass if that was all he had. Of course, it let old man Shinuhi know when we were bored, so we didn't try to stop him.

Instead I turned back to Kokoro, shrugging my shoulders, almost as if to ask him what I was supposed to do about it. The red headed Uzumaki merely shrugged his shoulders, returning to cleaning his swords, which was always an hour long affair. In all the time we'd spent together as gennin, Kokoro'd never explained to me why he had so many swords, he had at least two dozen, but he only had two hands… Oh well, with any luck I'd find out when we fought the other Gennin team.

The thought of the others made me smile, as I imagined what it'd be like to fight like that… Three on three, gennin team versus gennin team…. Should be fun, as long as I got to show off my jutsu a bit, then I had absolutely no problem with it. Then again, if I lost it'd be pretty embarrassing…. Hmmm.

There were three soft whacking sounds, followed by a sharp pain in my shoulder. Kokoro and Seika let out shouts of protest, telling me that they too had been reprimanded. We looked up at Shinuhi, who had created another glass prison, which he now sat in, wielding a staff. It was presumably the same staff that he'd just wacked us with, which admittedly upset me, but there was nothing I could do about it. Tokama-san had specifically told Shinuhi to wack me if I didn't pay attention. Kokoro and Seika's parents had agreed to it as well, or so I'd assume.

The man smiled as he noticed he had our attention once more, and he cleared his throat. "That's better… Now, as I was demonstrating earlier, a shinobi's greatest tool is his environment. With a strong mind, and the right environment, a Gennin could wipe out an entire division of Jonin. As you just saw, when attacking an enemy it's best to do so with the sun at your back, so as to blind your opponents."

The man gestured at the trees around us, and even the rocks, smirking. "And it's not just the sun we can use. You can hang poison smoke bombs down from branches, or explosive tags behind rocks. A well placed explosive tag could create an avalanche, or cause the walls of a ravine to explode. When you're facing off with Team Tokama tomorrow, I want you to use the environment to your advantage. Each of you will need to do this at least once."

I was tempted to ask what would happen if we didn't, but thought better of it. The old man still had that staff of his, and I wasn't looking for another hit from it. I turned to Kokoro, who shrugged, before turning back to Seika, who was tracing the seams of his jeans in disinterest. I repeat… Idiot. Deciding that it'd be best not to upset the man with a whacking stick, we all nodded our heads quickly, even Seika, which surprised me immensely.

Shinuhi nodded his head slowly, staring at us. I wondered what he was thinking, but couldn't even begin to guess… Oh well. Shinuhi smirked at us, making a quick handseal. "Alright then boys, sleep well, get some rest, I'll see you tomorrow and we'll see if you can't beat Team Tokama." We all bowed to the older man, wishing him a good day as Seika wandered off somewhere… God knows where, I sure wasn't following the kid around to chase every butterfly or koi fish he found.

I instead turned to Kokoro, poking his shoulder as I decided to get to the end of the mystery that surrounded my best friend. "Hey Kokoro, what's with all the swords man? You got more than I can count. How can you possibly use them all at the same time?"

Kokoro looked up at me, giving me a knowing smile as he shook his head, resuming the long task of cleaning his swords. "I've been working on a jutsu my father taught me Girin-san, and I'll have it finished by the end of tonight. You'll get to see it in our fight tomorrow, just be patient."

Oh how I hated hearing those words. Why would I need to be patient, if he'd almost completed it he could just tell me now? Shrugging, I waved as I began to walk backwards, heading home. "Fine then Kokoro-san, keep your secrets. I'll see you in the morning Kokoro-san."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N- Sorry for the wait, but as you can see, this chapter is bigger than the other two combined, I would have split it up into two or three smaller chapters, but don't like cliff hangers. Might end up having to do it next time though, ended up procrastinating too much with this one.

Kino's POV-

I yawned loudly as I rubbed my eyes, sitting down beside Tokama-sensei. The other team was late, and Yacou was getting antsy, her small grey dragon puppet whirring around our heads as she tapped her fingers along her legs lightly. I'd heard she'd been experimenting with her puppets, but I couldn't tell, it still looked the same as always.

The only difference I noticed was that instead of it's usual, smooth sleek surface, it's new surface was built of overlapping plates, and it looked like it was more armored than usual… Weird. I placed my hand on my cheek, rubbing it lightly as I tried to figure out how it was different… I couldn't and I knew if I stared too long Yacou would attack me…

Instead I turned my attention to Dakede, who wore his usual steam armor, with the furnace in the back. He looked as calm as always, and I couldn't help but find that annoying. I reached out to grab his hat, but he moved his hand around to grab mine, shaking his head at me. Apparently he wanted the hat... Bully.

Instead of taking his armor apart, I poked his shoulder, raising an eyebrow at him. "Hey Dakede, what's with the armor? You're a Taijutsu user, won't it slow you down?" Before Dakede could respond, Tokama-sensei placed his hand on my head, smiling down at me. His voice rang out, as soft as always. "That's a nice question Kino-san, although I'm surprised Tsuchikage-sama hasn't told you already."

Tokama-sensei moved to stand behind Dakede, and he gestured at the armor. "See that there? The little band around the collarbone that looks like it's pressed tight against Dakede's skin? It is, it's almost an airtight seal, and the face covering that leads up around his mouth and nose acts as a way to protect his lungs."

Tokama-sensei moved his hands to the furnace on Dakede's back, which he tapped twice. "The furnace here fills the armor with steam, building up pressure inside. Now, Dakede's clan holds the secrets of this armor to themselves, and even I don't know if the steam comes from the furnace or themselves, but I do know that the more steam built up in the armor, the more the pressure, and the stronger and faster Dakede-san will become. Han wears armor like this… At least he did before he left. We'll have to see if Dakede-san is as good with it as Han is."

I nodded in understanding, though the only thing I got from the entire speech was that it made Dakede faster and stronger. That sounded useful… I still wanted to know why he wore it, it was eighty degrees out here, and he had to be burning up in that thing. Still, I'd just have to leave him to deal with it; after all, I had my own problems.

I needed to make a list of what jutsu I'd use for the match, and I didn't know which ones it was safe to use… Obviously I couldn't use any Dust Release techniques, though I'd only started that rumor to intimidate the other Gennin, I don't even have the Fire Release necessary for it… Well, I did but I didn't know any techniques with it.

What techniques could I use…? The Flight Technique was fun, and I'd only just mastered it a few days ago, and I had the Earth Fist technique… But other than that, I didn't have much… Of course I could always use _that_ technique, but I didn't really have it down just yet, I always ended up using too much chakra or not enough, it was irritating.

Still, what happened would happen…? I could see my grandfather approaching, and I knew I wouldn't have much more time to think about it, so I went to join the others. There was a fight to prepare for, and it was going to get ugly. Oddly enough, a member of the opposing team, Seika, was already here. He was running around giggling, chasing after Yacou's dragon puppet. Yacou flew the dragon around in circles, deciding to entertain the child, though occasionally he would capture it in his hands. What an odd child…

Girin's POV-

I walked alongside Kokoro, poking his side and asking him what was up with his swords, as Shinuhi-sensei walked behind us, trying not to laugh. Finally Kokoro turned to glare at me, fixing me with a stink-eye. "Girin, I will show you when we start, now shut up, your questions are annoying."

I raised my hands in surrender, acknowledging defeat. We were almost there, I suppose I really would have to wait. I felt a heavy hand on my head as Shinuhi-sensei tousled my hair, laughing loudly. "Come now Girin, patience is a mark of a true Shinobi! Why, I remember a mission where I was supposed to ambush an enemy caravan, and I was forced to wait at a bridge for over two weeks!"

As the old man began rambling on about his old missions, Kokoro shot daggers at me with his eyes, and I shrugged, giving my teammate and friend a sheepish smile. We listened to the man's torturously long stories, as he led us towards the battleground.

When we got there, I was relieved to know he'd shut up, but surprised to see Seika already there, still chasing the dragon. I was sure he'd have gotten distracted chasing a butterfly, or watching grass grow, or trying to figure out how to walk and breath at the same time... You know, fun stuff. When he spotted us, he stopped chasing the dragon, instead going over to stand next to Shinuhi, as Kokoro and I attempted to distance ourselves from our dimwitted teammate.

I looked up at the Tsuchikage, noting his cucumber like nose, which Kino shared. Kokoro and I doubted this fight would be judged fairly. The Tsuchikage probably only agreed to do this because his grandson was involved. It was likely the Tsuchikage would declare Kino's team the victors no matter what happened… As long as we got to pound them a little, I could live with that.

The old man we called sensei spoke up, his voice grating on my ears as he did. "Now, because these Chuunin exams are set up to compare the strength between the gennin of the villages, we're going to see how you would work as a team in a time of war. Now, in war we have people who conduct strategies for us, and basically call the shots. So each team leader will pick a team member to serve as a strategist. The strategists will stay out of the fight for the first three minutes, and will provide their teammates with strategies. This will test your intellect, teamwork, and obedience."

Sounded fair in my opinion, I waited for Shinuhi to tell Kokoro to stand aside, and I was given a terrifying shock as he called Seika out instead…. Why was the idiot our strategist? We were screwed! I could hear Kino and Yacou snickering, as Tokama-sensei called for Dakede to be their strategist…. We were already beaten in strategy… Kokoro and I would just have to beat Kino and Yacou quickly.

Seika immediately wandered off, climbing a tree and plucking leaves from the branches. He ripped the leaves into tiny peaces, as small as he could manage, giving Yacou and Kino a good laugh. Kokoro and I shared uneasy glances, knowing that Yacou and Kino would be getting good tips from someone who could the entire battle, while we were blind.

Tokama-sensei strode forward, turning from Kokoro and I to Yacou and Kino, before directing us to either side of the small forest. The Tsuchikage cleared his throat loudly, before calling out for us to begin, as a stream of fire passed my right ear, and Kokoro darted to the side.

Kokoro targeted Yacou, pulling two blades from the holster on his back and twirling them rapidly, deflecting the senbon her puppet fired. Deciding that Kokoro was more than equipped to handle Yacou, I attacked Kino, making several hand seals as I gathered spit and chakra. "Explosion Release: Spit Grenade!"

I spat forward, the glob of spit flying forward. Kino jumped to avoid it, though the blast still knocked him back, as he landed against a tree. I'd managed to attack before he was ready, and I knew it… My quick action had just won me the match.

I darted forward, dodging another stream of flames as Yacou attempted to defend her teammate, suffering for it as Kokoro lopped off part of her dragon's tail. I jumped into the air, landing in front of Kino as I thrust my hand forward, grinning in victory. "Explosion Release: Landmine Fist!" A small spark appeared in front of my fist, but otherwise nothing happened, and I groaned loudly. I still hadn't quite mastered that technique.

Kino grinned in relief, bringing his knee into my gut, causing me to double over as he backed up. He threw several kunai at me, and I dived to avoid them. Well, there went my advantage… I began firing more spit grenades at him, feeling my chakra draining, until Kino stopped trying to escape, breathing heavily…. Perfect.

Kino's POV-

I was tired, and didn't have many options… I raised my hands, making a few hand seals, before rising into the air, dodging the spit grenade that blasted the ground I'd stood on seconds before. My chakra was draining with every moment I flew, and I dove forward, extending a foot to kick Girin on my descent.

The Explosion Release user darted backwards to avoid my attack, as he slipped something from his coat… A soldier pill? That was cheating! He fired more spit grenades at me, and I was forced to use the Flight technique once more, flying to the other side of the forest as I groaned. I had no choice… I couldn't get close enough for the Earth Fist, not when he was bombarding me like that, I'd have to use _that_ jutsu.

I emerged from behind the tree, as Girin spotted me, preparing for another spit grenade. I made several hand seals, as I heard my grandfather gasp in recognition. "Earth Release: Earth Golem." As the large rock golem formed in front of me, Girin fired off another glob of spit, as it impacted the golem, a large explosion following. My vision was obscured by the smoke, but I could hear Dakede barking out orders to Yacou.

Girin's POV-

I frowned as the smoke cleared, spotting a hole that went about halfway into the golem's chest… It would be difficult to destroy apparently. Yacou had whipped out two new puppets; one with swords for arms was pushing Kokoro back, while another shot volleys of kunai and senbon at him. I needed to help him out…

Suddenly Kokoro grew angry, and he made several hand seals. "Arms of Baizenten!" Several arms made of chakra appeared from Kokoro's body in various places, grabbing the bladed puppet and placing it in front of the senbon firing one. The bladed puppet's mouth opened, a large ball appearing there. It looked like it was made of Explosive tags… this was bad.

The arms around Kokoro lifted the puppet into the air, two of them grabbing swords from the holster, driving them through the chakra blades, as Kokoro threw the bladed puppet at its senbon firing partner. The explosive tags exploded, destroying both puppets, as Yacou gave a small pout…

A loud clicking sound could be heard, and we looked up to see the small dragon puppet, except it wasn't small anymore. The plates had slid out from under one another, interlocking to make the dragon triple in size, as a large column of flames jetted from it's mouth.

Kokoro stood unfazed; the chakra arms each grabbing a sword, interlocking the blades to create a shield like substance. The flames spilled around the flames, and the dragon puppet shrunk, the plates sliding under one another as it darted around, firing darts of wind from it's mouth as it circled Kokoro.

Both Kino and I paused our fight, though while I was too busy watching Yacou and Kokoro to fight, Kino's jutsu had clearly exhausted him. Kokoro's chakra arms formed an ultimate defense, each one weaving the blades around to block the darts. While faster and tougher in its smaller state, the dragon didn't have the same destructive capabilities.

Dakede called out more orders, and Yacou took his advice, pushing Kokoro back by enlarging the dragon once more, waiting for Kokoro to interlock the blades before firing wind darts, making him back up towards a tree.

There was a commotion from the spectator's area, and Shinuhi was practically throttling Seika, growling angrily. The old man shouted loud enough for the entire village to hear, and I smirked as he realized his mistake. "SEIKA! PAY ATTENTION TO THE MATCH!" The old man turned to me, glaring angrily, as he shook a fist. "YOU TOO GIRIN, QUIT WATCHING KOKORO!" I looked over at the golem, realizing now was my chance. I darted forward, thrusting my fist into the hole in it's chest as it brought it's arms down towards me. "Explosion Release: Landmine Fist!"

Seika called out to me from the side, his voice detached as he did. "I wouldn't do that if I were you! Ooops, too late." I realized my mistake as soon as he did, and I prayed the technique failed again. No such luck.

A large explosion ripped from my fist, forming cracks along the golem. However, as explosions tend to do, it traveled along the path of least resistance, which happened to be the hole my arm was in. The explosion ripped into my arm, knocking me backwards, as the old man immediately made several hand seals, intent on shielding me until Tokama-sensei grabbed his hand, shaking his head. My cousin knew me well…

We knew it didn't mean anything, we knew we didn't have to win here, but we wanted to, and that was all that mattered to us… Victory. Kino ignored me, sending the golem towards Kokoro… The golem was slow, but Kokoro was distracted. I made several hand seals, the flesh on my right hand slightly burned, as I gathered spit once more. "Explosion Release: Spit Grenade." I shot the projectile at the point of the creature's back where the hole in the chest would be, as it shattered slightly.

Kino looked at me in shock, as Seika turned his attention to Kokoro. He called out loudly, pointing to the creature's tail, which wasn't extending properly. The reason was a kunai Seika had jammed in it earlier, when he had been playing with it. "Kokoro-san, jam your swords in it's armor, it'll be stuck as a little one."

Kokoro nodded, his chakra arms immediately moved into action, as Yacou moved too slow to stop it. She merely turned to Seika in shock, and I couldn't help but wonder if she was thinking the same thing as me. Since when did Seika think?

I leaned back, as Kokoro cut threw the remaining blades at Yacou who turned to look at them, screaming in fear. Until a glass cube surrounded Kino, Yacou and myself. Apparently we were out… At that time, Shinuhi gestured for Seika and Dakede to jump into the battle.

Dakede wasn't at a disadvantage for long. He'd been storing steam in his armor all this time, and he managed to overwhelm Kokoro through speed and strength, while Seika returned to plucking leaves from his tree, seemingly uninterested in the fight.

Dakede jumped at the back of the child's head, deciding to end it quickly, until Seika leaned completely backwards, hanging upside down from the branch he'd been sitting on, suspending himself by his legs. Dakede continued along his path, unable to change direction as his gut slammed into a branch that Seika's body had hidden, and Dakede fell.

As Dakede fell, Seika looked down at him, smiling and waving, before making several hand seals. "Lava Release: Congealing Quicklime Technique." The mist fell over Dakede, coating his body and irritating his eyes, as he tried to see through the haze. He landed sharply on his back, crying out. Soon the quicklime cloud cleared, and Seika smiled, waving once more.

Shinuhi frowned, unable to discover what Seika was doing, as I tried to tell him not to do it. I banged my hands on the glass, which was apparently soundproof, as no one paid attention to me. "SEIKA! SHOW SOME RESTRAINT!"

Seika pulled himself up by his legs, following the path of his ascent and turning it into a descent, doing several front flips as he carted down to Dakede. The adults realized too late what was happening, as Seika pulled out of the flip, one foot distended as it landed on one of Dakede's arms, a loud cracking sound following.

Seika was pushed aside as Tokama-sensei rushed forward to grab Dakede, who was now screaming loudly, cradling a broken arm. Shinuhi began scolding Seika, who gave the man a confused look. "But Shinuhi-sensei, you wanted me to win…. He can't fight without his arm." Shinuhi's eye twitched at the child, who had a slight smirk on his face, before moving to climb his tree once more, going back to his leaves.

His victory was short-lived however, as I watched Yacou tackle him, screaming like a lunatic. She caught him in the middle of his climb, and he was unable to defend himself as she pinned his face to the dirt, wailing on his back. Tokama-sensei grabbed her from behind, pulling her off and telling her the fight was over, though none of us was sure how she escaped the glass.

At least, not until I noticed the lack of the Yin-Yang symbol on her palms. The symbols were now on the glass walls that had entrapped her, and from what I could tell, were draining chakra from it steadily… Well, that was a nifty trick. Still, the fight was clearly over. As far as I could tell, I was the only one capable of escaping the glass except for Yacou, and using my Landmine Fist in this confined space… Well, I'd learned my lesson from the Golem.

But still, a good shockwave from one of my explosions would vibrate the glass enough to shatter it… I soon discovered it was unneeded, as the glass seemingly melted away. Presumably, Shinuhi-sensei remembered we were here and decided to free us. I could hear the Tsuchikage congratulating Seika on his victory, and then lecturing him about restraint, but I didn't pay any attention.

Instead, I made my way over to Kokoro, giving him a high five. "Kokoro! That jutsu was awesome, the way you stopped her puppet from expanding? Awesome!" Kokoro merely shook his head, unwilling to take credit for his victory against Yacou. "I was bound to win Girin, Yacou and I were a poor match ability wise. Except maybe for those symbols of hers, I used up a lot of my chakra making the arms, she could have killed me if she'd used that against me… Maybe that's why she didn't."

I turned to look at Yacou, who had been looking toward us, but she looked away when she saw me watching her. I could see how he was right…. Dakede probably would have beaten him, depending on how long Dakede could dodge him… We just got lucky I suppose… I turned to yell at Seika for not warning me sooner about the golem, but he was gone, and instead Tokama-san was placing a hand on my shoulder.

He gave the bone a light squeeze, and smiled at me… Great, now it was time for a lecture from my high and mighty cousin. Instead, he merely nodded his head to where Shinuhi-sensei was fading in the distance, and smiled. "Come on, if we don't get your arm looked at soon your mother will kill me."


	4. Chapter 4

Girin's POV-

I lay in the middle of my hospital bed, listening to the sounds of birds chirping, children laughing, and Tokama threatening to throw med-nin out the window. You know, the usual. The med-nin was saying I couldn't use my arm for a few weeks at least, as it was severely burned. Tokama argued that I had the Chuunin exams to attend, and that I didn't have two weeks to waste in a hospital bed.

I turned to my left, seeing Dakede in the bed next to mine, staring out the window. He'd broken three ribs when he'd slammed into the branch, and his fall had done some damage as well. He was stuck here with me…. Poor guy. I decided it wasn't fair for him to be here alone when I had Tokama outside, and I wondered when his family would come to visit him.

I looked around, deciding it was best my family didn't show… My mother was scary… Growing bored, I turned to Dakede, nodding my head at him. "Hey Dakede, don't you wanna take the armor off? It's gotta be 70 degrees in this building, it's not cold." Dakede turned to me, eyeballing me slightly, before shrugging. His mouth and nose were covered as always, but his green eyes stared out at me. "I'm not hot, and I would rather not take off the armor."

I shrugged at his response, reaching my good hand up to scratch my cheek. "Well… you seem kinda lonely… Don't you have any family?" Dakede turned to look at me once more, and I got the distinct feeling he didn't like me. Then his eyes softened, and he looked down. "I have a twin sister, and a mom. They'll be here soon."

I smiled kindly at the child, waving my hands in a prompting motion. At least he talked. I placed my hand on the bed, tapping it as I continued listening to Tokama arguing. "So uh… Looks like we won't be in the Chuunin exams, huh Girin?"

I turned to him in surprise, not expecting him to talk to me again, or even really ask me anything. I frowned at his question, looking down at my gloved hands, before looking up at the roof. Would we be in the Chuunin exams? Could we afford not to be in the Chuunin exams? Dakede seemed pretty hurt, and I wasn't doing much better…. But if we didn't go to the Chuunin exams we'd be stuck as Gennin, and our teammates would be Chuunin before we were…

The thought of Seika being a Chuunin while I was stuck as a Gennin left a bad taste in my mouth. I turned to Dakede, before looking back down at my hands. I turned to Dakede, a determined look on my face. "I don't know about you Dakede, but I refuse to remain a Gennin! Not only will we attend the Chuunin exams, but we will advance to Chuunin on the first try!"

Dakede smiled back at me, nodding his head in agreement. It was nice to know the green eyed boy shared my determination. His smile faltered however, and he realized a flaw in our plan. "But Girin, the med-nin said we can't use our arms for a few weeks… The Chuunin exams are in six days…" I merely shrugged, deciding his argument was irrelevant. We were going to compete in the Chuunin exams, that was all that mattered. "Where in the rule book does it say we need to use both arms to participate? You use your steam armor to fight, and I only need the one hand for the Landmine Fist. I'll just have to start training!"

I stood to leave, only to grimace as my damaged arm banged against the wooden frame of the bed, and I laid back in the bed… "Maybe I'll train later…" Dakede chuckled at my antics, and I glared at him lightly, before turning on my side. What a pain this was, I hated it in the hospital…. My bandages were scratchy, the blanket was rough, the pillow was as hard as a rock, there was steam everywhere, the…. Wait, steam?

I turned to look around the room, watching as more steam flooded in. What was this? I heard a groaning sound from Dakede, and I turned to look at him, raising my brow. He turned to look at me, a look of dismay on his face as he did. "My sister's here…"

Ahhhh, so the steam came from Dakede and not the armor… Nice to know. I turned to the door, as a young woman, no older than myself, floated in on a bed of steam, looking for all the world like royalty. She floated over to Dakede's bed, plopping down at the edge, moving to a sitting position. Her voice rang out in a high pitched, innocent, child like tone. "Dakedeeee! Look at you! You're all hurt! And just the other day I was on a mission, and I felt a stabbing pain in my arm… Guess that was my twin sense activating huh?"

Dakede shook his head irritably, pushing his twin off of the bed with his foot. "There's no such thing as a twin-sense Kaiya, you're just trying to seem special to make people pay attention to you. You're a Chuunin now, don't you have better things to do than bother me? Like go on missions maybe?"

Kaiya pouted at her twin's accusation, brushing it off, before turning to notice me. "Oooh! Who's your friend?" She reached out and tousled my hair, pulling the blond strands to the side to stare at them, until I reached my hand up and slapped hers aside. "I'm my own person Kaiya-chan, I don't need Dakede to introduce me. My name's Girin, and Dakede and I aren't friends, we're… Dakede, what are we?"

She recoiled as her hand was slapped away, and I began to feel bad as she pouted. Dakede on the other hand, found it immensely funny that someone had denied her sister something she wanted, and he was clearly trying not to laugh. "I'd say we're more of rivals Girin, maybe acquaintances."

I smiled at his answer, nodding my head and looking at Kaiya. "See, rival slash acquaintances. Not friends." Kaiya merely laughed at my statement, flipping her long black hair, a chiming noise ringing forth as I noticed the array of ornaments she had in her hair. "Awwwwhh, lucky you, Dakede's such a horrible friend, he's allergic to laughter."

Dakede scowled at his sister's words, but looked away, deciding it was best not to get into it with the girl. Kaiya looked back at me, creating another steam platform, floating along it to sit on my bed instead. Her kimono flowed around behind her as she floated, and I wondered why she wasted chakra like that, when walking was so easy. That's when I noticed the bandages on her legs, and I was curious, but from the look Dakede shot me, I figured it was best not to ask.

I looked up at the woman's eyes, a bright green color that shocked me slightly, then back to the ornaments in her hair. They were all gold, though some had intricate drawings, while others were plain. I reached up to touch one, but Kaiya slapped my hand away, suddenly angry. "Hey, don't touch those! Those aren't for you!" I raised an eyebrow at Dakede, and he swirled his finger around his temple, the universal sign for crazy.

I looked back at Kaiya, who was busy counting her ornaments, sending me angry glares. When I opened my mouth to apologize, she stood, making her way back to Dakede's bed, and I shrugged. She gave Dakede's head a pat, as she made her way to the door. "Sorry Dakede, but your friends trying to ruin my lucky charms, I'm out."

I raised an eyebrow at the woman, as she shot my one last glare, before leaving. I turned to Dakede, who grimaced at the expression on my face. "I know, I know, she's weird. She thinks she's the chosen servant of lady luck or something, I don't know, all I know is she's really weird about when it comes to luck… Just be glad you didn't break a mirror or something."

I nodded, pretending to understand what Dakede was saying, before turning back to the trail of steam that followed the woman… What an odd clan of people. I lay back down on the bed, as Tokama once again began arguing with someone outside. I wondered why Dakede's mother hadn't yet come to see him, but decided it was unimportant. If he wanted to talk about it, he would.

I turned back to the door as Tokama entered, and he sat down on my bed, clapping me on the leg. "Don't worry Girin, I'll make sure the med-nin fix you up in time for the Chuunin exams. They said you'll heal faster with rest, so no more talking, and don't let me hear about you getting out of this bed, or I'll tell your mother."

The man seemed to be stressed, and I sat up in my bad, staring at him. "Tokama-san... What's wrong?" Tokama looked at me, raising an eyebrow at me, before breathing a heavy sigh and rubbing his nose. "Well Girin, the Tsuchikage's sending me on a mission. It seems our beloved cousin has resurfaced, so I'm to go capture him."

I gave a start at the man's words, knowing who he meant. Our cousin was dangerous, and not a very good person to be hunting. I hoped Tokama could handle the man, Tokama was strong, after all he'd been offered the position of head of the Explosion Corps several times, even if he had rejected it. But still, our cousin was strong…

Tokama must have noticed the look on my face, cause he chuckled, shaking his head at me. His blue eyes stared into my brown eyes as he looked at me. "Come now Girin, don't tell me you're worried about me? I can handle him, and don't worry, I won't kill him either. I'll just capture him and bring him back, the Tsuchikage can sort out the rest. Now get some sleep."

Dakede raised an eyebrow at me as I turned on my side, and Tokama began to leave. He reached his hand out to nudge my shoulder, nodding his head at Tokama's back. "Hey, who's your cousin, why do you seem so worried?" I frowned, rolling over to my other side, frowning slightly. "Deidara... My cousin's name is Deidara."


	5. Chapter 5

Kino's POV-

I sat next to Yacou on the wall near the training grounds, as we watched Kokoro dragging Seika along behind him, following Shinuhi as the elderly man began approaching us. We'd been waiting for Tokama-sensei to arrive, but apparently Shinuhi was going to be training us instead…

Yacou and I shared a glance, and I could tell we were both thinking the same thing. This was going to be boring….. It didn't help that they'd brought Seika along, and it was all I could do not to jump down and crush him for breaking Dakede's arm like that. Still, it'd be best if I didn't cause any trouble, Shinuhi probably wouldn't like us attacking him…

So, when Kokoro and Seika reached us, we dropped down off of our wall, bowing to the two, though I think we both wanted to throttle Seika instead. We turned to Shinuhi, wondering what the lesson was going to be today. We didn't have long to wait, as he leaned heavily on his stuff, clearing his throat. When he had our attention, he nodded his approval, before speaking slowly. "Alright, both teams have a member who's injured, and therefore both teams are down a man."

He scratched his head, before holding up a hand, reaching out to us. "Tokama-san's not here and he's left you two in my care. Meaning that I am solely responsible for your training today… I don't know what training you've been doing with Tokama-san, and I'm afraid I don't care… Today, I'm going to prepare you for the Chuunin Exams. The Chuunin Exams change every year, but every year the final test consists of one on one combat between the Chuunin, with the matches being determined randomly. The second test usually consists of a team effort between the various Gennin teams."

He yawned loudly, standing away from the staff as he made several hand seals. "Glass Release: Translucent Dance of the Heavens." Several glass shards rose from the earth, spinning around rapidly until they were no longer visible, as Shinuhi thrust his hands forward. There were four cutting sounds, followed by four clinking sounds, as each of the Gennin's forehead protectors fell to the floor.

Shinuhi moved his staff forward, pressing it down on each forehead protector and dragging them across the ground towards him. He bent down, picking them up, before tying them each to his staff. "Today I'm going to prepare you for the second variety of test. You are each going to function as teams of two, and use teamwork to reclaim your forehead protectors. That's all."

I frowned, leaning down to look at his staff… How could we get that? It was impossible, he was a Jounin… I breathed a heavy sigh, clenching my fists as a feeling of despair began to wash over me. How were two gennin supposed to get past two other gennin, and then manage to steal two forehead protectors from a Jounin?

I looked over to Yacou, but she seemed calm for some reason… What was she thinking? Her Kekkei Genkai wouldn't work here, the seals wouldn't get past his glass barriers. Still, if she wanted to try it… I suppose I had no right to deny her the chance to win. I stood up, waiting for Shinuhi to begin, as he grinned at us. Kokoro seemed as uneasy as I was, but Seika whispered in his ear, and he immediately grinned… So Seika had a plan already, huh?

I moved to make a plan with Yacou as well, but I moved too slowly, as Shinuhi banged his staff into the ground. I looked up at the man, feeling a twinge of apprehension at the thought of training this man while Tokama was gone… He smiled at the group of us, as he began making several more hand seals. "We'll begin as soon as my next jutsu is finished. First team to grab two forehead protectors wins."

He stopped making hand seals, as he looked up. "Glass Release: Mirror Prison of the Buddha." Walls of glass appeared around them, creating an intricate maze of mirrors, as Shinuhi sighed heavily, a bead of sweat on his brow. He must have used a bit of chakra for that one… Shinuhi shook his head, glaring down at me as I frowned slightly, feeling the angry gaze of dozens of Shinuhis staring at me. Creepy….

Suddenly, Shinuhi was gone, and I knew the test had begun. Seika and Kokoro immediately took off in one direction, while Yacou and I stood there, staring at the mirrors blankly…. I stood to look at Yacou, smiling and nodding my head. She nodded her head in return, before whipping her scroll out.

She summoned forth her bladed puppet, as it opened it's mouth, a large ball of explosive tags forming. She frowned, turning to me with her brow furrowed. "Hey Kino, I've only got three or four shots with this, where do I shoot?" Oh…. Well that was a problem. We'd need to fire them wherever they would be most effective…

I pointed to the four sides of the maze, grinning widely. By taking out the sides of the maze, we might be able to make the other mirror's fall… Unless they were all imbedded in the earth, at which point we'd need to find a way to destroy the others.

As Yacou's puppet launched the four projectiles, and we heard the shattering of glass as the balls exploded…. Some of the outer rings collapsed, but the inner square remained intact, and now Shinuhi was toying with us. He was running through the maze, the mirrors reflecting only him for some reason, and he was everywhere.

The mirror images were always doing the same thing, whether it was lashing out with a staff, or simply running. I learned quickly that they were incredibly realistic, and the chances of getting hit with a staff weren't increased just because the mirror swung at someone.

Occasionally however, I would get cracked in the stomach, or in the back of the head, and I could already feel bumps forming there… I reached out and grabbed Yacou, pulling her back against the wall, as I used the flight technique. Screw this running around crap, Yacou and I would search in style.

As we floated into the air, we looked down, noting a silver dome, as we descended down to it…. It looked like Kokoro had gotten tired of getting hit, he had surrounded himself and Seika with blades… We descended downwards towards them, knocking on the dome and calling out. The blades parted slowly, and Kokoro stared out at us, confirming our identities before lowering the rest of the blades.

As much as I hated to admit it, there was no way Yacou and I could do this alone. We'd already tried blasting the glass, and that was really all we had… Girin would make things easier, but he wasn't here. Looks like we'd have to make do… "Kokoro, listen. Shinuhi-sensei said we had to take the forehead protectors, he didn't say we couldn't work together to do it."

Kokoro seemed to be mulling this over, obviously debating on whether or not it was a trick, before shrugging his shoulders. "Well, it's probably better than sitting here waiting to be whacked… So, what's the plan?" Kokoro and Kino shared a dumb look for a minute, before turning to Seika, who was busy examining rocks….

Girin's POV-

I drummed my fingers on the bedside, growing bored… Tokama-san had said to rest, but I was far too hyper to rest…. I turned to look to Dakede, only to see the boy on the floor doing one armed pushups…. How had I missed that?

I cleared his throat, nodding my head at the man. "Hey Dakede, whatchu doing that for?" Dakede grunted as he worked, sweat beading on his forehead as he looked up at his roommate. The sandy haired child, looked back down at the floor, the grey cement floor darkened by his sweat as he ignored my question.

I glared angrily, rolling out of bed to punch the Gennin, until Dakede rose up one last time, and was unable to keep himself up. I panicked, knowing how much it'd hurt if he hit his arm, and I leaned down to grab the exhausted child before he could bump his bad arm against the floor, pulling him up to a sitting position. If he'd hurt himself the nurses would have known, and they'd have come put us back in bed, and they had permission from my mother to tie me to the hospital bed…

My amber eyes stared into Dakede's green ones for several moments, before Dakede breathed a heavy sigh, shaking his head. "We promised to go to the Chuunin exams right? I'm not gonna let myself get out of shape just because my arm's broken… You should get some exercise in too, before the nurses come back."

I helped Dakede back into bed, deciding that I wouldn't suffer too much from the loss of activity…. Still, it wouldn't hurt to practice my spitting. And that was how it came to pass that when the nurses returned, they found both Dakede and me laughing happily, competing to see who could spit the furthest.

Kino's POV-

I watched from above as Shinuhi ran through the maze. The old man had already found the other three, and was dancing around them, his staff lashing out to smack them, as Kokoro once again created a shield of blades. I had to admit, the old man was good… Anyone on the ground wouldn't be able to tell what was a mirror and what was him, but from above I had a good view of him, and I was still impressed.

He danced around with the staff like he'd been born with it in his hands…. Still, the man seemed to have sustained an injury at some point, he always struck out with the staff then brought it back to lean on, as if he couldn't land from a jump without it…. Destroy the staff and the old man would lose his mobility.

Kino made several hand seals, grinning slightly. "Earth Release: Earth Golem." As the large rock golem formed out of Kino's mouth, it dropped to the ground, the weight plus gravity sending it rocketing down swiftly.

Shinuhi looked up in time to see the golem coming, and he made several hand seals, thrusting his hands towards the air. "Glass Release: The Wedge of Fate." A large wedge shaped glass construct formed in the air, splitting the golem in half as it dropped down, slipping the sides off to either side of the old man. It was then that Kokoro's dome opened, and the swords darted forwards instead.

Shinuhi dodged backwards just in time to avoid getting impaled, though there were several loud thunks as the swords impaled the staff. The old man attempted to pull the staff away, put the chakra arms wouldn't release the swords. Only after the man's staff was thoroughly occupied did Seika jump out at him, grabbing the top of the staff and kicking at it, splitting it down the middle. At the cracking sound that followed, Yacou's dragon puppet flew forward, flying in circles around the man swiftly, the chakra threads pinning his arms to his sides.

Kino smiled at the completion of Seika's plan, knowing that it should have been obvious from the beginning. Still, they had won, that was all that mattered. Shinuhi chuckled lightly, as two glass shards sliced through the chakra threads binding him. He picked up half of his staff, examining it, before giving the four gennin a whack on the head.

When they all turned to him questioningly, he waggled a disapproving finger, frowning. "I said get your forehead protectors, not break my staff. Now I need a new one… Still, I suppose you did do good… Come on, I'll buy dinner." Shinuhi smiled as he brought Seika over, tousling his nephew's hair. His nephew may be a complete idiot, but he was pretty smart when he needed to be… As they walked, no one noticed that Seika's Kunai pack had been stolen by a shadowy figure.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait between chapters, I'm planning out the Chuunin Arc and the next Arc before they truly get underway. I'm calling them arcs, simply because that's what they call them in the Manga, so why not? Also, I might incorporate a few things from movies or the Anime, but I'll be following the Manga chiefly, as that's the only thing truly canon.

Aruji is going to be another OC whose POV I will be using from time to time.

Aruji's POV-

I sat in the corner of a poorly lit sewer, just underneath the marketplace in Iwa. The smell alone was enough to drive me crazy, but luckily I was able to steal a lighter from some poor sap. The cigarette smoke wafted into my nose, driving away some of the stench, as the lit end of the cigarette stuck out in the darkness of the sewer, revealing my location to my subordinates.

"Burashikage, we must be going. A sewer is not a safe place, not to mention the fact that it's under Iwa, we need to find a more secure area." Ahhh, that was Hoseki, always looking out for me… Ever since I'd rescued him and his friend from that odd laboratory, he'd been following me around, as if his sole mission in life were to protect me. It was only fitting that he was one of the four men that guarded the four entrances to Burashi.

What nice young men they were, so reliable, so trustworthy. So….. Stupid. Devoting your entire life to guarding one gate? I never could make any sense out of it, but hey, they protected my village, and I wasn't going to talk them out of it. I reached out to pat the young crystal user's shoulder, shaking my head slowly. "Now now Hoseki-kun, calm down. You know I prefer to avoid moving out in the open."

I tended to stick to the shadows, it was much safer. I walked forward a bit, my hand moving from my cigarette to my pocket, as I withdrew three Iwa forehead protectors from it, grimacing lightly. My hand clenched around the metal, wondering how my oldest friend could betray me like this… Granted, he thought I was dead, but still, it was the principle of the matter.

For one of the five great Shinobi villages to attack a minor village without provocation… Well, that was just cowardly. The three foolish Shinobi who tried it were hopefully missing-nin, the thought of destroying Iwa was a pain… Then again, waging war on a major village would have repercussions, and even Barashi might not survive if all of Iwa's allies swarmed them… Sure, it was built to defend against a large enemy force, but still…

Maybe a peace offering would work… Oh well, I'd need to worry bout that later…. I made his way down the sewer, walking into a side tunnel, where multiple candles lit the area, hovering over a single pentagram on the floor. I made my way into the center, kneeling down on my knees as my hands made their way up to the necklace hanging around my neck, the one of a simple raven. "I offer this prayer up to Ridan, mistress of the shadows and patron of the thieves."

I reached into my pocket, pulling out the various stolen items my shadows had brought me. A bag of Kunai with smoke bombs attached was the first item. I had tested the bombs, they weren't filled with smoke, they were filled with quicklime… It was odd. Next came a multitude of golden charms that the shadows claimed to have stolen from some little girl…. Who would let their daughter wear so much jewelry?

Oh well, it was none of my business…. I felt a slight weight on my shoulder, and I turned my head to look at a small shadowy figure… It looked like a miniature version of myself, though it was featureless, and only carried my outline… Such was the shape of my shadow. Of course, it was only a fraction of my shadow…

Breathing life to my own shadow and others, splitting my shadow into a multitude of shadows… Such were the gifts granted to Ridan's priests. Unlike those god-forsaken Jashinits…. Those skeleton bodies they had when using their rituals were creepy… It's why I preferred Ridan to Jashin, Ridan's gifts were elegant, and required finesse. Jashin's gifts were ugly, creepy, just plain disturbing… Besides, who needed to be unkillable? Being unseen was the same thing, and your attacks were more diverse than just slashing away like madmen…

Morons that they were, Jashinists were still powerful…. I'd often contemplated recruiting one. But Barashi was a place for the arts, not for butchers…. Only the artful were allowed inside Barashi, and through the arts their strength would be greater than any of the Five Great Shinobi villages, greater even than that of the Samurai of the Land of Iron.

I stood, making my way back out as the shadows behind me began burying the various stolen items. Ridan would collect the offering I'd given her, that I knew, and she would bless me for it. The shadow techniques were secrets passed down from priest to priest, but could only be used with Ridan's blessing…. Many young acolytes had not had the blessing, and had been forced out of the order…

Still, such had not been my fate. Now, back to the other pressing matter… A peace offering… Of course, such a thing would require a powerful bargaining chip… Maybe… "Kamu! How's our guest doing?" The dark skinned archer appeared to the side of me, one of my shadows on his shoulder, biting down on an arrowhead curiously.

The tiny figure drew one of the arrows and held it out to me, it's form frothing happily. "ARUJI! I found a shiny! Look! Shiny!" I shook my head, patting the shadows head as Kamu snatched the arrow from it. The former Kumo-nin turned to me, shrugging his shoulders. "He's doing fine…. For now. He'll lose the arm of course, but he'll live."

The man was the only member of my group that I actually feared… Alone, the man was nothing, not even a blip on my radar. But his weapons…. Those were the real danger. The bow and the dagger, while not impressive at first, hid a powerful secret… One I only knew due to my shadows. It was for this reason that Kamu wasn't allowed to leave without a shadow accompanying him.

Still, Kamu knew his place. He was my subordinate, and he wouldn't soon forget it…. He was allowed into Barashi only due to the ink jutsu he used, and without the knife that would be gone too, and he'd be forced out. Kamu knew I knew where his power came from, and he was constantly afraid I would steal the weapons from him…

Still, he was useful, and fighting him would be too dangerous… For the moment I'd have to deal with him. "Thank you Kamu, you may return to your post. Send word back to camp, tell Uchien I want him and his squad ready to move on our signal. If this goes poorly, he'll be crucial to our escape."

I scratched my cheek softly, my thoughts drifting to the village I'd worked so hard to build…. It was left virtually undefended, with only Masuta, Yakuma, Kasumi, and a few others there. I'd opted for a preemptive strike against Iwa if they did want a war, and Masuta and Yakuma could work well enough to hold off an invading force long enough for us to return…. But still…

Yakuma was too proud to work with others smoothly, and Masuta was a wild card…. But in the current predicament, I'd have to work with what I had. "Oh, and Kamu? Send word to Barashigakure as well…. Tell Masuta that during my absence he may kill invaders in whatever way he sees fit." The dark skinned man raised his brow at this, but shrugged, heading off to somewhere that he could summon the owl's that served as his messengers.

He was a useful servant… Kaja was more so, but she was otherwise preoccupied… Still, when it came to stealth, my choice in servants was clear… I whistled loudly, as multiple shadows flocked to my side. I traced my fingers along ones back gently, the shadow darkening and paling in pleasure as I did.

I turned to the shadows, holding up a single coin to them all, keeping it under a sewer grate so that the sun would reflect and shine off of it's edge. The shadows were each immediately drawn to the shine, as was I for just a second… I turned back to the shadows, grinning lightly. "See this? I will give this shiny thing to whichever one of you can bring me back the most information about one Shinuhi… My old sensei, I'm sure you all remember him."

The shadows all began nodding and shouting out affirmatives loudly, some of them even making up false information on the spot… I merely frowned at the ones lying, sliding the coin into my pocket as I pointed at the grate. "You have twenty-four hours, and none of you had better lie to me… You know I'll know."

The shadows grumbled lightly about having to do work, before slinking up through the sewer grate. I reached out to pluck one by the leg and place it back on my shoulder… I liked to keep just one around for company… Not that I'd tell Kasumi or Arikasa… They'd never let me hear the end of it.

Of course, the shadows held a lot of secrets about me…. The most closely guarded one was also my biggest weakness… Shiny objects… As silly as it was, I loved things that shined… Shadows were actually representations of myself…

Their personalities were actually just my personality stripped down to my most secret and hidden desire…. I was a thief who'd been forced by circumstance to live the life of a leader… No more stealing for me. Of course, the only things worth stealing were the shiny things… So the shadows were obsessed with obtaining shiny objects… Such simple creatures… Yet so complex.


	7. Chapter 7

Aruji's POV

I smiled at my old partner, sitting down in front of him as he stared at me in slight shock. When he finally opened his mouth, he gave me a look as if he'd just seen a ghost… Which he kind of had. "Y-You're dead… S-Shinuhi-sensei killed you…"

I chuckled lightly at Tokama's statement, one that sounded oddly like a question. "Well, Shinuhi-sensei thought he killed me… A little Genjutsu work from Kaja-chan, and one of my shadows willing to take a few shards of glass for me, and Kaja-chan and I were able to make our escape… Of course, that cut our gennin team down to just you, but it was worth it."

The shadow nestled in the man's hair cooed happily, swirling down to sit on the man's shoulder, jumping off onto the man's shadow, where it disappeared completely. "Ahh, I see my little friend still remembers you…"

Tokama merely grunted, snapping his jaws at the shadow as it passed his shoulder, attempting to break free from his restraints. "Yea? I see your little friend's are still incredibly stupid, and annoying. I don't want the thing living in my shadow, call it back."

I raised an eyebrow at his last statement, snapping my fingers as I created another shadow on my shoulder. "Come now To-kun, is that anyway to treat an old friend? Haven't you missed me even a little? After all this time? Where's the 'Hello Aruji! Nice to see you again?'" I shook my head incredulously, resisting the urge to be upset with the man.

After all, what were friends for, if not forgiving their friends? I paced in front of the man, deciding that I would have to get the conversation moving since he didn't want to. "In answer to the questions you're too rude to ask, Kaja-chan is doing fine, got a nice cushy job in Barashi, I on the other hand am upset. You see, I go to all the trouble of building a village, creating it with my own two hands… Then Iwagakure Shinobi decide to raid it, several of them from your clan."

I pulled a chair up, sitting down in it as I looked at the man, dangling the forehead protectors from one finger as I did. I knew how Tokama felt about beating around the bush, so I figured getting straight to the point would be more fun. "Now, tell me… old friend. Why is that? Why did Iwagakure attack my village?"

Tokama merely shrugged, giving exactly the response I expected. "How should I know? Probably missing-nin." I nodded at this, standing as I moved forward, cracking my knuckles loudly. Well, I wasn't going to hit him, but my shadow was placed in the right way to wreak havoc on the man.

It was at this point however, that Hoseki leaned forward to whisper into my ears. "Sir, Uchien is here to see you, he said you'd need his help.." I shook my head in slight anger, wondering why no one ever did what they were told…. Still, Uchien was right as always.. his help was welcome here. I nodded my head, as Hoseki went off to find the former Samurai... We'd taught him a few Shinobi techniques, and as it was he was the best interrogator we had besides Yakuma.

Speaking of Yakuma, I wondered how he was faring… He was stuck working with Masuta, and I had ordered Masuta to go all out… Could get ugly, and Kamu's owls would have reached them by now… I turned to my guest, who was currently wringing the neck of my shadow, bowing lightly. I placed my hand down, the shadow detaching itself from Tokama and climbing my arm to sit on my shoulder, pouting slightly.

I knew full well it'd wanted to attach itself to Tokama, and I couldn't have that… Splitting my shadow was a bit painful, and I'd already attached too many of them to the people I loved… Once attached to someone's shadow, my shadow's would live off of that person's chakra, and continue on even after I died… But if I were to die, my shadow would be attached to that person until they died… Even if they didn't want to be…

Even so, sometimes they managed to attach to someone before I could stop it… Kasumi and Arikasa for instance… Of course, the two of them had been thrilled at the thought of having their own personal pet shadow… They'd even stopped calling them shadows, deciding it was wrong to compare them to an ordinary shadow. 'They have feewings' Arikasa said, 'they're people'… Such annoying views…

Ridan didn't want people treating her servants like pets… She didn't want people ignoring them, but the shadows were spies, informants, one of a Ridanists most useful techniques…. Naming one of them was just… wrong…

Still, not much I could do about it.. I wasn't gonna make my own son part with his best friend… He'd named the shadow Taiyo… I'd tried taking it from him once, and he'd burst out crying… And Kasumi… The look she'd given me, I wasn't going to be trying to get little Kaguyaku from her again. Of course, I can't really blame them… They knew each shadow was basically a piece of me, and they also knew that no matter what happened to me the shadow was stuck with them… Knowing I'd always be with them, I couldn't justify taking that away.

And so my life went, I was always slightly incomplete… No matter how many of my shadows I gathered to return to my original shadow, those two would always be missing… For a Ridanist to be missing part of their shadow…. Well, that was almost criminal.

Oh well, I could worry about my missing pieces later, for now the safety of Barashi and my family depended on what information I could gather from Tokama, and later my old sensei, Shinuhi. If Iwa really did wish to wage war on Barashi, then things would get difficult soon, and even I couldn't say who would win.

Barashi was a fortress, nearly impossible to enter without the permission of the Guardians, the Shinobi who stood watch over the four gates… Settled in a natural basin, cliffs surrounded Barashi on every side… Yakuma had dug four paths down from the cliffs towards Barashi, and those formed the four gates, the walls of Barashi later being formed to watch each of the four paths.

An entire mile separated Barashi from the cliffs edge, and the walls were high enough that the basin could be flooded without having to worry about drowning citizens. From there, Yakuma's summons would flood the entire basin with electricity, and the only assault that would work was an aerial assault, which was Kamu's specialty…

Such was the way of my village. However, such defense did admittedly come at a price. No one was able to leave or enter the village without my say so, the risk of civilians being hurt was too high. Once a Shinobi joins with Barashi, the only time they leave is when they go on missions, or when they escape on their own strengths… Barashi was both a fortress and a prison.

It was a difficult adjustment for most Shinobi, but it was necessary…. Barashi had been built for a purpose after all, one that I'd kept from the others for the longest time… Only myself and my fellow Ridanists knew my true purpose in settling down and leading a village…

Before I could continue the thought, a loud clinking drew my attention, and I raised my head to meet the feral gaze of a puppet. It was an ordinary enough puppet, with the head being that of a hawk… "Uchien… So nice to see you here, I assume your division is prepared?"

The puppet bowed lowly, raising it's head as it began to speak, it's voice coming out in a melodic tone one would expect from a human. "Of course Aruji-sama, we are ready to strike at Iwa on your signal. The second puppet shell division will not fail in it's mission."

Of course, there came the other quirk Barashi had… The Puppet shell technique. Using this technique we could seal a person's soul into a puppet, and they would then become the puppet, the puppet replacing their old body… They were granted immortality, at the price of a human form. Not everyone would volunteer to join the puppet shell divisions, and I would not force them. Still, the durability of the puppet shell's, along with the various hidden mechanisms they could be used with were deadly, and they still kept their chakra. They formed the backbone of my army, and were crucial to the survival of the village…

I bowed in return to Uchien, smiling as I did. "I know you won't Uchien-san, the second puppet shell division has never given me reason to doubt it, and until it fails I will continue to have faith in it. Now, I believe you wanted to help gather intel? You will find our guest down that way… Do what you must, but do not let him know you're doing it."

Uchien turned his head to the side to stare at me at this, and I could only hazard a guess at what he was thinking. Still, as far as I could tell he wouldn't question me, he'd never done so before, probably just wondering why I was so worried about gathering intel secretly…. Well, he deserved to know that much at least. "Tokama-san is an old friend, and has saved my life on many occasions… We recently interrupted a fight between him and an Akatsuki member by the name of Deidara, and once we've established whether or not Iwa intends to attack us, we will return him to them. Best that the Shinobi of Iwa don't think we tortured their comrade."

Uchien nodded at me slowly, plucking his sword from it's sheath and placing it on the table. He was known as the puppet master of the heart, and was able to influence someone's emotions with a few simple words, as well as a powerful Genjutsu. Lying to him was nearly impossible, and only Yakuma was better at getting the truth, albeit in a more disturbing way.

Still, Uchien was another threat… Just like Kamu, his sword was more than it appeared to be at first glance, and I was always keeping an eye on him as well… A shadow literally living inside of him, hiding inside the hollow body that was his puppet shell. Uchien didn't make a single move that I didn't know about…

He and Kamu had come to me at the same time, seeking protection from their respective homes. I could only assume they'd worked together to gather their weapons as well, though whether they had the full set or just the three even I couldn't say… I would need to watch them, if other such powerful weapons existed, I would need to gather them for Barashii.

With Uchien interrogating Tokama, there was really nothing for me to do but wait.. Wait and maybe gather a few more trinkets for my dear Kasumi-chan…. She was always complaining about her jewelry going missing, though I have no idea what she wanted me to do about it. Arikasa digs up one necklace and suddenly I'm not allowed to leave my own home without emptying my pockets… it was an outrage!

Still, not something I would tell Kasumi… She'd cut me… I didn't like being cut.. Best to play it safe. Get her some more jewelry, maybe that would fix it… Making a few hand seals, I placed my hand on the ground in the shadow of a tree, frowning slightly. "Shadow Recall!" A cloud of smoke poofed out around my hands, and a shadow stood on my palm, looking around before frowning at me.

It stared for a few moments, once again looking around as if trying to find out where it was. With a loud humphing noise, it climbed onto my shoulder, flicking my nose angrily. "Aruji-san, I was about to get a shiny, why'd you have to bring me here! You owe me a shiny! I want a shiny!" Grabbing another coin, I flicked it to the shadow, who scrambled around and placed it in my kunai pouch, hiding it away in case anyone might try to steal it's shiny.

It's toll having been paid, the creature ran onto my shoulder once more, tugging on my ear curiously as I set off towards the village. "Aruji-sama, where are we going?" I smiled at the creature, waving it's hands off of my ear as I made several hand seals. "We're going to find some nice shiny things for Kasumi-chan, so that maybe she'll forgive me for misplacing her jewelry. Shadow Veil." As the shadows enveloped us, hiding us from view, the Shadow on my shoulder frowned, unhappy at the thought of collecting a shiny for someone else.

The shadow started whining about finding Kasumi more jewelry, until I clamped my hand over it's mouth, silencing it and causing it to begin pouting. I wasn't usually mean to the shadows like this, only when my subordinates were around, couldn't have them think I was going soft. And the amount of times I complained about Kasumi and Arikasa treating the shadows like pets, I was always a bit rough on them around them as well… Still, this shadow needed to be silent, the girl we were going to borrow jewelry from wasn't exactly the forgiving type, and very attached to her jewelry for some reason. Something about good luck charms, I didn't quite remember. Not that it mattered, you couldn't keep the master thief from stealing your jewelry, it couldn't be done… When I set out to steal something, it was already as good as gone.


End file.
